1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to language processing apparatus, and more particularly to a method of translation process for realizing conversion from a first language to a second language other than the first language.
More specifically, the present invention relates to a language processing method of various information processing apparatus such as word processors, computers, and book-type electronic organizers.
2. Description of the Background Art
There are mainly two methods of converting Japanese into a foreign language such as English utilizing a computer. One method is to carry out translation with each sentence as a conversion unit using a translation software or a translation system having processing steps such as input sentence analysis, conversion, output sentence generation with respect to an arbitrary entered sentence. The other method is carried out in a dictionary manner that simply converts under word level and does not carry out analysis or generation. As a modification of the second method, there is an apparatus that obtains a translated sentence corresponding to an original sentence by preparing in advance an original sentence and a corresponding translated sentence with respect to a limited number of sentences.
Structure diagrams of such a conventional translation system and a dictionary format system are shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, respectively. These structures will be described briefly with reference to the drawings.
Referring to FIG. 6, a sentence to be translated which is entered from an input device 1 such as a keyboard is stored in an input sentence memory 2. The sentence stored in the input sentence memory 2 is displayed on a display device 7 under the control of a display controller 6, and transmitted to a translation processing portion 3 as the data to be translated. The translation processing portion 3 internally includes a morphological analysis portion, a syntactic analysis portion, a semantic analysis portion, a language conversion portion, and a sentence generation portion. With such analysis portions, the translation process is carried out with reference to the translation dictionary and translation grammar stored in a dictionary portion 4. The sentence translated by the translation processing portion 3 is stored in a translation output memory 5 to be displayed as a translated sentence on the display device 7 via the display controller 6.
Referring to FIG. 7, an input term or a selected sentence entered from the input device 1 is temporarily stored in the memory 2. The stored contents are displayed on the display device 7 under the control of the display controller 6 and transmitted to the translation processing portion 3, as in the case of FIG. 6. The translation processing portion 3 carries out the translation process with reference to the translation dictionary or the data base of example sentences in the dictionary portion 4 by a dictionary retrieval portion or an example sentence retrieval portion provided therein. The translated result is stored in the translation output memory 5 to be displayed on the display device 7 as a translated sentence via the display controller 6.
Although the translation of an arbitrary sentence is possible with a translation software in the above-described conventional translation system, a large capacity memory is required for storing the translation program, dictionary and the like with a computer of high performance for translation processing. Furthermore, reliability oil the translation was not satisfactory and only a few could be used directly as a translation sentence in such a translation system.
The system of a dictionary format can be realized even with a small computer, and the necessary memory capacity for translation programs and dictionaries is relatively small. However, there is no function to produce a translated sentence, and the user had to create a translated sentence within the range of his or her own translation ability based on the words. Also, the conversation sentence conversion feature in a modification of such a system does not incorporate the function for translation. More specifically, a translated sentence corresponding to an original sentence stored in the internal contents of pairs of an original and a translation is obtained, and a translated sentence with respect to an arbitrary sentence cannot be created. If a large number of originals are stored internally, the memory capacity is increased and the selection of an original cannot be achieved easily. Although there are an infinite number of required sentences, only conversation sentences and the like which are assumed as basic are stored.